Are Fistulas Dangerous? The Risks and Complications

Fistulas range from uncomfortable nuisances to immediately life-threatening emergencies, and the danger depends almost entirely on where the abnormal connection forms and what structures it links. A fistula between the aorta and the intestine, left untreated, carries a reported fatality rate of 100 percent, while a simple perianal fistula might cause chronic pain and drainage but rarely threatens survival. The complications that make fistulas dangerous include infection that can spread into the bloodstream, malnutrition from diverted or leaking digestive contents, organ damage from misrouted fluids, and in rare cases, cancerous transformation of chronically inflamed tissue.

Why the Type and Location Matter So Much

A fistula is an abnormal tunnel between two body surfaces that would not normally be connected. That definition covers a vast range of conditions. A tunnel between the rectum and the skin near the anus is uncomfortable and prone to infection, but it is a world away from a tunnel between the aorta and the bowel, which can cause catastrophic bleeding. Fistulas can form between virtually any adjacent organs or body cavities, and the risk profile shifts dramatically depending on the anatomy involved.

Some fistulas are congenital, meaning a person is born with them. Tracheoesophageal fistulas in newborns connect the windpipe to the food pipe, creating a direct pathway for stomach contents to reach the lungs. Others develop after surgery, radiation therapy, prolonged labor during childbirth, or diseases like Crohn’s that cause deep inflammation through the bowel wall. The mechanism behind disease-related fistulas often involves chronic, full-thickness inflammation that erodes through tissue layers, with cells undergoing changes that allow them to tunnel into deeper structures and eventually break through to adjacent organs or the skin surface.¹

Anal and Perianal Fistulas

Perianal fistulas are the type most people encounter, and they are by far the most commonly discussed in clinical practice. They usually begin as an anal abscess that drains but never fully heals, leaving a tunnel between the inside of the anal canal and the skin near the anus. A large population-based study found that about 20 percent of patients who develop an anorectal abscess go on to develop an anal fistula.² A separate multicenter study found a somewhat higher rate, with about a third of patients developing a fistula after abscess drainage over roughly three years of follow-up.³

The immediate dangers of a perianal fistula are infection and abscess recurrence. The tunnel itself provides a sheltered environment where bacteria thrive, and the resulting chronic drainage of pus and fluid is not just unpleasant but can lead to repeated infections that require antibiotics or further surgical drainage. Having Crohn’s disease, a history of recurrent abscesses, or certain bacterial profiles in the pus all sharply increase the odds of fistula formation after an initial abscess.³

Perianal fistulas tied to Crohn’s disease deserve special mention because they tend to be more complex, more likely to recur, and harder to treat. Crohn’s patients can develop fistulas from persistent active disease or as complications after surgery.⁴ Even with the strongest available medications, long-term healing occurs in only about 30 to 50 percent of patients with fistulizing Crohn’s disease.⁵ That leaves a large proportion of patients managing a chronic condition rather than achieving a cure.

Enterocutaneous and Internal Gut Fistulas

When a fistula connects the intestine to the skin surface or to another internal organ, the complications escalate. Enterocutaneous fistulas, which create a path from the bowel to the abdominal skin, are among the most medically challenging fistulas to manage. The gut contents that leak through the opening can cause severe skin breakdown, massive fluid loss, and dangerous shifts in electrolyte levels. The three complications that dominate treatment are sepsis, malnutrition, and electrolyte disturbance.⁶

Malnutrition develops because digestive contents are being diverted before nutrients can be absorbed, and the body simultaneously ramps up its metabolic demands to fight infection and repair tissue. Dehydration from massive fluid loss compounds the problem.⁷ If not addressed aggressively with intravenous nutrition and electrolyte replacement, these patients can deteriorate rapidly.

Fistulas that connect the bowel to the bladder (enterovesical or colovesical fistulas) carry their own set of dangers. Patients often present with recurrent urinary tract infections because bacteria from the gut are being funneled directly into the urinary system. Gas in the urine is a classic warning sign. In severe cases, such fistulas can lead to kidney failure and overwhelming infection.⁸

The Most Immediately Dangerous Fistulas

Some fistula types are surgical emergencies with mortality rates that climb by the hour. Aortoenteric fistulas, which connect the aorta to the intestine, are among the most lethal. They often develop as a late complication of previous aortic surgery and present with gastrointestinal bleeding that can progress to hemorrhagic shock. Without intervention, this type of fistula is uniformly fatal.⁹

Aortobronchial and aortoesophageal fistulas carry similarly grim numbers. One study found in-hospital mortality of 100 percent among patients managed without surgery, and even with intervention, septic shock remained the most common cause of death.¹⁰ These are conditions where minutes count, and even reaching the operating room in time does not guarantee survival.

Gastrointestinal fistulas more broadly can trigger a cascade of systemic complications when they go unrecognized or untreated, including profound bleeding, septic shock, kidney failure, and cardiac problems.¹¹ The danger multiplies when the fistula is misdiagnosed. In one reported case, a fistula between an iliac artery aneurysm and the colon was initially mistaken for a tumor, and the diagnostic delay led to massive bleeding requiring emergency surgery.¹²

Arteriovenous Fistulas and Cardiac Strain

Arteriovenous fistulas occupy a unique niche because some are intentionally created. Kidney dialysis patients often have a surgical connection made between an artery and a vein in the arm to provide reliable access for blood-filtering treatments. These are generally beneficial and preferred over other dialysis access methods, but they are not without risk.

When a large volume of arterial blood gets rerouted through the fistula and back to the heart’s right side, the heart has to work harder to handle the increased blood return. Over time, this extra workload can cause the heart to enlarge and eventually fail.¹³ Patients with functioning dialysis fistulas have been shown to have measurably enlarged heart chambers compared to those without.¹⁴

Beyond cardiac strain, dialysis fistulas can cause steal syndrome, where the arm or hand beyond the fistula does not get enough blood flow because too much is being diverted. This limb ischemia can appear soon after the fistula is created or develop years later. The access site can also develop aneurysms from repeated needle punctures or from the sustained pressure of high-flow blood being forced through veins that were not designed to handle it.¹⁵

Tracheoesophageal Fistulas in Children

Congenital tracheoesophageal fistulas, where the windpipe and food pipe are abnormally connected at birth, present immediate dangers to newborns. The most acute risk is aspiration: food, saliva, or stomach acid traveling through the fistula into the lungs. This can cause chemical injury to the lung tissue (aspiration pneumonitis) or infection (aspiration pneumonia), and in the most severe cases it can be fatal. Two infant autopsy cases documented interstitial pneumonitis as the cause of death from tracheoesophageal fistula involvement.¹⁶

Even after successful surgical repair, these children are not entirely in the clear. Long-term respiratory problems are common in patients with a history of repaired tracheoesophageal fistulas. Chronic aspiration risk persists, and repeated aspiration events over time have been convincingly linked to the development of bronchiectasis, a permanent widening and scarring of the airways.¹⁷ Parents of children who have had this repair often need long-term follow-up plans with pulmonary specialists, not just surgeons.

Obstetric Fistulas and Their Far-Reaching Consequences

Obstetric fistulas develop when prolonged, obstructed labor damages the tissue between the vagina and the bladder or rectum, creating a hole that allows continuous leakage of urine or feces. These are now extremely rare in high-income countries where emergency cesarean sections are readily available, but they remain a significant problem in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where access to obstetric care is limited.

The physical consequences alone are severe: constant involuntary leakage, skin breakdown, recurrent infections, and chronic pain. But the damage extends well beyond the body. Women with obstetric fistulas report being abandoned by families and spouses, losing their livelihoods, and being socially isolated to the point of complete ostracism.¹⁸ A systematic review of qualitative studies across sub-Saharan African countries found that the consequences of obstetric fistula touch every dimension of a woman’s life: physical well-being, social and marital relationships, mental health, and economic capacity.¹⁹

Surgical repair can close the fistula and improve both physical and mental health for most women who receive it.²⁰ The tragedy is that many women in affected regions wait years or decades for treatment, and some never receive it.

Radiation-Induced Fistulas

Radiation therapy for pelvic cancers, particularly cervical cancer, can damage the blood supply to surrounding organs. The initial injury is to tiny blood vessels, which gradually leads to chronic tissue ischemia, scarring, and loss of the normal tissue planes that keep organs separate.²¹ This process unfolds slowly. Radiation-induced fistulas typically appear two to three years after treatment, though they have been reported anywhere from six months to 20 years later.²²

What makes these fistulas particularly frustrating is that they are difficult to fix. The tissue surrounding the fistula has been permanently damaged by radiation, so it heals poorly. Spontaneous closure is unlikely, and surgical repair has a high failure rate because the ischemic tissue tends to break down again at the site of the repair.²² Patients and oncologists sometimes face a painful trade-off: the radiation that cured or controlled the cancer has created a chronic complication that resists treatment.

Can a Fistula Become Cancerous

This is a question that understandably worries people living with chronic fistulas, and the short answer is that it is rare but documented. The chronic inflammation in a fistula tract that persists for years can, in uncommon cases, trigger cancerous transformation. A systematic review of perianal fistulas in Crohn’s disease confirmed that malignancy arising in chronic fistulas is rare, but recommended that any persistent or new symptoms in a longstanding fistula be thoroughly investigated.²³

The phenomenon is not limited to Crohn’s-related fistulas. In fistulas associated with chronic bone infections, the risk of cancerous transformation (known as Marjolin’s ulcer) has been estimated at about 2.6 percent.²⁴ A more recent systematic review confirmed that malignant transformation of perianal fistulas is predominantly associated with chronicity and presumably driven by chronic inflammation, though the exact mechanism remains poorly understood.²⁵ The practical takeaway is that a fistula you have had for many years warrants ongoing surveillance, particularly if symptoms change.

The Emotional and Social Toll

The medical literature consistently describes the physical complications of fistulas, but the lived experience of patients reveals a burden that clinical language only partially captures. People with perianal fistulas report that the condition affects intimate relationships, friendships, and social participation in profound ways. A qualitative study described the impact as “intense and wide reaching,” negatively affecting intimate, close, and social relationships.²⁶

An international patient survey comparing people with Crohn’s perianal fistulas to those with Crohn’s disease alone found that the fistula group reported greater difficulty in relationships with family, friends, and partners. Many patients said they avoided exercise and sports, always had to carry personal hygiene supplies when leaving home, and would only go out if they knew clean restrooms were accessible.²⁷ Women in that survey reported an even greater impact than men, with many saying they avoided sexual intimacy with their partner.

A separate qualitative study explored how anal fistulas disrupt identity itself. Participants described the fistula as imposing “a sense of bodily defectiveness that complicated sexual closeness and desire” and saw it as a major obstacle when trying to form new intimate relationships.²⁸ The shame and stigma around fistulas, particularly anal ones, can make people reluctant to seek help or even talk to their doctors candidly about how the condition is affecting their lives.

Treatment Risks and Trade-Offs

Treating a fistula often involves surgery, and surgical treatment carries its own set of complications that patients should understand going into the process. For anal fistulas, one of the most widely discussed risks is damage to the anal sphincter muscles, which can impair bowel control. A study of patients who underwent a cutting seton procedure for anal fistula found that about 63 percent reported some degree of impaired anal control after surgery, though most of these were minor symptoms rather than full incontinence.²⁹ This is a genuine dilemma: leaving a complex fistula untreated means chronic infection and discomfort, but aggressive surgery risks trading one quality-of-life problem for another.

For Crohn’s-related fistulas, the treatment picture is layered. Biologic medications that target the inflammatory process represent the strongest drug-based approach, but even with the best available therapies, long-term fistula healing only reaches about 30 to 50 percent of patients.⁵ Newer approaches including stem cell therapy are showing promise, but for now, many patients cycle through multiple treatments over years. The combination of incomplete healing rates and the chronic nature of the underlying disease means that managing expectations is an important part of the conversation between patients and their doctors.

For the most dangerous fistula types, particularly those involving major blood vessels, the treatment decision is less about trade-offs and more about immediate survival. Endovascular stent grafts and open surgical repair are the only options for aortoenteric fistulas, and the window for intervention is narrow. Even among patients who receive surgical treatment for aortobronchial or aortoesophageal fistulas, in-hospital mortality ranged from about 14 percent with open repair to nearly 38 percent with endovascular repair in one study.¹⁰ These numbers underscore that while some fistulas are chronic annoyances, others are among the most dangerous conditions in surgery.